As I hobbled from a rare free parking spot in Queen Anne to what, around this time of year, is usually Bumbershoot’s Fisher Pavilion stage, I wasn’t sure what to expect. With a recently broken toe I had very little desire to be out on a (relatively) very hot Seattle day in a crowd of people mere inches from stomping on my already very delicate baby toe.

However, Day in Day Out festival caught me by surprise. Keeping it very simple with one main stage and one DJ stage (accessible only from the 21+ side, but audible from the entire festival grounds), DIDO felt like a scaled down, more manageable Capitol Hill Block Party. There were fewer stages, less food options, and no time conflicts between acts. The all-ages festival featured nationally touring acts such as indie rocker Mitski and soft rocker Mac DeMarco but reserved 30-minute DJ sets in between each main stage act for local artists like Spirit Award, Acid Tongue, Beverly Crusher, and Tres Leches. A schedule of DJs was difficult to track down – I was only able to do so by checking the daily schedule posted on DIDO’s Instagram each morning of the festival. As is the case with events these days, the festival had a very last minute COVID-induced change to the lineup when Nashville-based Soccer Mommy had to drop. They were seamlessly replaced with The Kerrys, shifting all acts set times but maintaining a stellar first day lineup.

Though the festival is small compared to what we usually see in the area around this time of year (Bumbershoot, Capitol Hill Block Party), it has expanded in length and crowd from last year. In 2021, Day in Day out served as Seattle’s first music festival post-COVID. What was then a two-day festival was upgraded this year to three with the addition of Friday acts. The modest 5,000-6,000 crowd made it easy to maneuver and ensured the wait for the bathroom was never too long (at least on the 21+ side which featured the temperature-controlled bathrooms in Fisher Pavilion) but was the perfect size for the single-stage setup.

Day in Day Out Festival boasts quick, efficient security, condensed but absolutely satisfactory vendors, re-entry, and a very considerate, pleasant crowd. It requires no frantic stage-hopping as one may expect from a summer festival in Seattle. Though only in its second year, DIDO is a promising, low-maintenance new festival.